(insert team name here) coach Dominic Kinnear is meeting with Houston-area youth soccer coaches at a reception on Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Holiday Inn Select on Park Row (at I-10). The event runs from 7 to 8:30. According to a flyer I received, Kinnear will discuss his outlook for the season and talk through the team's training and tactics philosophies. He'll also answer questions. Seems like a great outreach effort by the team ... one that youth coaches should appreciate.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches What group was sent this message? I have not seen it yet (and am a youth coach)....
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches The event is being sponsored by Westside Soccer Club (hence the Katy Freeway location). I got the flyer from Eclipse Soccer Club, which sent it to all its youth coaches/managers. If you're interested, contact RSVP to Kristen Gambetta at kgambetta@houston1836.com (she seems to be the contact for everthing!).
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches (REPORT) I went to the youth coach seminar with Dominic Kinnear and Oliver Luck last night and it was awesome. Oliver Luck spoke first and had a lot of great jokes about the name change and was in great spirits. He spoke for 5 minutes about the team, the stadium and the name change. Oliver said they would be changing the name. Oliver said he "loved the name" 1836 but understand why it needed to be changed. He talked about the history of Houston being passed up so many years for an MLS team and he said Houston is a great city and great sports market. He introduced Dominic and this is the first time I have seen and heard him in person and all I can say is WOW! He is the most friendly, open and genuine guy you will ever meet. He talked about a lot of things. He took a lot of questions and the event lasted 1 1/2 hour. The questions kept on coming and finally Oliver stood up and talked about 5 minutes and then you were able to talk to the coach and Oliver at the end. A few of the things Dominic talked about were the following: -He said he was put in charge to win games for the team. He said he would put his best 11 against any 11 in the MLS and he said he likes his chances of beating anyone. He said it was unfortunate how they got beat out of the playoffs after winning all those games in the season -Said he has a very young team compared to his other and has to fill a couple of holes from Mark Chung retiring and Danny Califf going overseas -He said he was a student of the game -Said he wanted the sport to grow and he hated to see Donovan leave the team but he said if it gives an opportunity to grow the sport in the U.S. and get to the semi-finals of the World Cup then he would be the first one to sign the papers to get him to LA. -He said he wants him and the players to be accessible -Said players are very accessible, humble and open and many of the players are willing to get involved with youth clubs around the city. About 1/2 of the players are involved with youth soccer clubs (especially the guy that don't have families yet). He lets them do what they want and sometimes he doen't even know a guy is involved with a youth club. -Said he likes to build relationships. -Said 14 of the 18 players have returned -He said he believes in American soccer even though he is from Scotland. He said Scotish soccer is "terrible" right now. -Said Phil Anschutz is a very generous and personable man. He said all of the teams he owns get to go to his ranch in Colorado every year to thank them for their effort and play. He said it is a real blowout. He wasn't able to make it this year but he saw it on video. (I actually did not know he owned 5 teams, I thought it was 3) -Play a 4-4-2 and sometimes 3-5-2 -He said he lets the players play, he said his responsibility is to get them ready; he said he has learned he cannot play the game for them -They practice in Carl Lewis Stadium and he said the conditions for practice are better. He said the game field is similar to Spartan Stad. but the field is similar. He said they were very successful on their field because of the tight dimensions and no one knew how to play on it. He said the dimensions are similar width wise but longer length wise. Likes the way the fans will be on top of the field. -He said practices are open to the public as long as they are quiet. He told about a funny story about a guy that was in the stands watching training and someone scored a goal and they guy started going "all right" and clapping and Dominique told the player, "I didn't know your father was in the stands." He got a good laugh -Said putting Dwayne in midfield was not brilliant genius he came up with. He just put him there one game and he shined. He said he lets Dwayne go forward as long as he gets back. -He said Marcus Storey is speedy and would get a chance to compete for a spot. He said,"one thing about speed it never takes a day off and speed never has a bad game." -He said he is excited for Brian Ching and is excited about him getting a chance to make the National Team but is also selfish in that if he does not make it they will have him for 4-5 extra games. He said it is good to have one of your players have an oppty to be on the National Team. -Talked about youth soccer and he said the worst thing about it is the parents and the best thing about it is the parents. -He said soccer has gotten better in the US because a generation of coaches are coming up that have played the geam and have a better knowledge of the game. -He said the best thing about soccer is FRIENDS you create. -Let's captains to the warmup and the warm up has not changed in 5 years. -No curfew for the guys; he gives them a lot of room and treats them like men but if he has to he will take that away. -He said he is a very fair coach and the players should always know where he stands -He said he really cares for his players and said if he has to let go of a guy from the team he will be up until 4 am knowing he has to tell them at 9 they have been released He wanted to keep going but Oliver ended it. I talked to Oliver a little after it was over and he had some a great story he shared with me that I am not going to share with you on the board but he is a great guy. I know I have been on this board as a big supporter of this club but I am a bigger supporter now. Dominic and Oliver are incredible guys and I cannot believe how humble and open Dominic is. Houston you are going to be very proud! I already am.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches Good update truth, thanks for the insight. I know you guys are unhappy about the name change (me too), but it sounds like your mgt and coach are very open and if the suppoerters group works well with Oliver and company, you'll make the atmosphere at Robertson feel like soccer and the everyday fan will tell others about the unique atmosphere and bring more interest. BTW, even though UHLawdog and N8VTXN are seemingly lost on the cause, keep pushing the UH angle, there are plenty of on-campus students who could add some needed youth and bodies to your supporters section. I suggest posting flyers around campus, especially over at Moody Towers, the Quads and the three on-campus apartment complexes.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches Good idea. Glenn Davis suggested giving special discounts to U of H students. If somehow Houston MLS could make this an event on Saturday for the students of U of H it would be incredible. Game will be over right at 9:30 right before they go out that night. U of H is sort of a commuter college so it is not like a lot of colleges where there are a lot of students living on campus. I hope they do show up and would I hope someone from the suporters groups contacts the student body president or the fraternities on campus.
Truthandlife: Thanks for that update ... that was awesome. I really wanted to go to the event but I had a conflict. Was there a pretty good turnout? I have been very impressed with Oliver Luck and the way he has handled this whole situation. He has been upfront and visible and willing to tackle the hard questions. Loved the quote about youth soccer and parents. One of my daughter's trainers always says the only thing wrong with American soccer is Americans (he's joking ... I think).
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches I'm very familar with the setup at UH (BBA-Finance 1993), that's why I suggested the on-campus students. There are plenty of Houston supporters on this forum, I hope someone is making an effort on this front. I would if I still lived down there, but it's kinda tuff to post flyers around my alma mater from 1,000 miles away. Even stranger if I were doing it wearing my FIRE jersey.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches ANY MEMBER OF THE SUPPORTER GROUP WILLING TO STEP UP AND DO THIS?
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches I think that John, the guy we elected as the Tailgaiting Coordinator at the last supporters group meeting, said he was a current student at UH.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches There you go, that's your man. I figured you guys prolly discussed it at one of your meetings, didn't mean to step on anyone's toes.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches Anderson, has anyone contacted Kristen at Houston MLS to coordinate things with her? She and the team ultimately want to sell tickets and it seems like they could get you a lot of resources for this. Kristen is very personable and I think they have another Account Executive named John (I don't remember).
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches Oh, I don't recall if we actually discussed flyers and where to post them at UH. It's probably something we need to follow up at the next meeting. John told me he posts here, but I just can't remember his username (stoopid memory).
UH can't convince its students to attend its own football and basketball games, even when the student tickets are free. That's a battle of which long-time UH fans are all too well aware. Nonetheless, best of luck.
Re: Dominic Kinnear to meet with youth soccer coaches I'm not aware if we've done that - but yanks02 or CeltTexan would be most likely to know. We covered a lot of ground at the last meeting, but there's still a lot more to go. Several of the FO folks were at the meeting and they say they want to help, so we should be able to work something out. I don't want to drag this thread too far off topic into supporters group business - so we may want to pick this up in the supporters group forum - or not - just a thought.
You never know. With the diverseness of the student body at U of H, a lot of them probably like soccer better than football and basketball. Does UH ever have 7:30 PM Saturday football or basketball games at home? Just curious.
UH normally schedules all basketball games for 7 pm tipoff, and September-October football games for 7 pm kickoff. In November, when it can get chilly at night, the kickoffs are usually moved to 4 pm. Having spent a full nine years at UH (4 undergrad, 2 grad, 3 law), I can tell you that student apathy about sports of any type runs quite deep. UH is a commuter-dominated school, and most students are working on Saturday nights to pay for school, or to earn spending money. That's what I did. Hell, although I'm now a season ticket holder in football and basketball, and am a moderator on a UH fan site, and go on at least one or two football roadies per year, I can count on one hand the number of UH sporting events I attended during that entire nine-year period. I was certainly the rule, not the exception.
Yep, you were the rule for sure. In my 4 years there, I went to every football game and more than half of the basketball games. But that was an exception for the most part. As an alumni, I got season tickets when the Coogs football program went back to campus, then I was transferred promptly to Chicago after two seasons. Still not a bad idea to advertise on campus, last time I was back (Oct. 2005) I walked around campus (wow - many new buildings around campus!) I saw several people wearing soccer jerseys, it shocked me. Never saw that when I was there (the Run n' Shoot days . . .ah the memories).
I will talk to the fraternity and sorority guys and gals. No worries amigos. I think I have a good idea on how to pull those guys in.
Dominic also said he was a season ticket holder for the new team because he wanted to support the team in Houston. I am sure he could get plenty of free tickets but he is still buying season tickets.
If you can get the frats involved you could be looking at 200 extra rowdy friends per game. They can come enjoy the tailgating also. They can also bring young ladies.. Coach Dominic sounds awesome. I know Oliver is cool, heck he bought me a Guiness at the last meeting. I also made him laugh and then we danced....wait..that's not right... bford
bford, I talked to him about the thread you created about your meeting with him. His eyes got real big and he said, "no way!" I sent him the link. I told him it was a great way to do market research without having to hire a market research firm. Hopefully he will become a "lurker."
Peter Wilt actually used to post and reply to posts on the Fire forum. I'm not sure if Oliver has time right now or is interested in that much interaction at this point, but I'll see if that's something he wants to do.